The First Album "Daughters" Delves Into Grief and Elegance
In the song "Miss America", audiences find themselves inside a hotel room near JFK airport, where the musician learns a heartbreaking update of her father's illness discovery. This Sunderland-born performer had been traveling the US on her initial visit, drumming with group Kero Kero Bonito, when abruptly sadness takes over, coloring everything in grey. Unsteady keys and soft orchestration underscore gothic dispatches emanating from the tour van: "Cattle farm and broke down shack / Strip-mall, drug deal, panic attacks."
Walton's gentle vocals are delivered with a deadpan style, yet this record's tension arises from her sharp writing—mixing fiction, traditional phrases, and blunt personal notes—along with unexpected maximalism. Not many tracks recently showcase stronger novelistic style than "Shelly", a piece that depicts the killing of a deer and spirals toward a petrol-laden confrontation, reminiscent of written pieces illuminated with flickers of distorted strings. Tense, subdued sections with resonating, plucked guitar move to grand refrains, and her voice digitally manipulated to become something omniscient and sinister.
Listeners might previously know Walton from her work as an electronic producer, disc jockey, and contributor in groups such as Caroline. The album's sonic turns reflect her varied career. The opener "Sometimes" bursts with flourish, like a string band taken unawares, whereas "Born Again Backwards" radically ups the BPM with an intense, beautiful, looping drum fill. Dense layers of audio, skillfully produced with a long-term partner, seem both gnarly and ethereal, and Walton's morbid, magical thoughts peak on standout "Lambs", which momentarily transforms into a twirling dance. "I hope your existence doesn't conclude with dying," she bargains, exuding heart-aching dark comedy.